The visit of His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa to Karma Triyana Dharmachakra is a dream come true for so many of His Holiness’ dharma students in America. They’ve read his books, placed his photos on their shrine, recited his mantra … and then finally were able to encounter him in reality.

During the April 17-20 portion of His Holiness’ visit to KTD, students from all over the country – and the world – converged on the Catskill Mountains to see His Holiness. After receiving a warm welcome at his North American Seat on Friday April 17, His Holiness gave a public lecture on Refuge to a group of 1500 students at the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston on Saturday, a Karma Pakshi Empowerment to 1300 at UPAC on Sunday night, and teachings on the Four Dharmas of Gampopa to donors and members at KTD on Sunday and Monday.

Among those visiting, we found some interesting stories and wanted to share them with you. May these small gems of devotion to the guru sh…

Via Subway #1,2,3 @ 116th St.
His Holiness the 17th Karmapa will lead prayers for the victims of Nepal at Riverside Church.
No ticket or advance reservation required. Doors open at 1 pm.
This event will be webcast live from the Karmapa’s official webcast page.

VOA Kunleng interviews the head of the Karma Kagyud school of Buddhsim on a range of topics including China’s plans to control the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, revival of fully ordained Buddhist nuns, his interest in art and calligraphy, and his ongoing visit to American universities, high tech companies, and Buddhist organizations..

དཔལ་༧རྒྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ་ཨོ་རྒྱན་འཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོ­་རྗེ་མཆོག་འདས་པའི་ཟླ་བ་གཅིག་ཙམ་གྱི་རིང་ཨ­་རིའི་ནང་མཐོ་རིམ་སློབ་གྲྭ་གཙོས་ཤེས་ཡོན་ད­ང་རིག་གཞུང་གི་ལྟེ་གནས་མང་པོར་གཟིགས་བསྐོར­་གནང་ཡོད་པ་མ་ཟད། འདི་ག་ཨ་རིའི་རླུང་འཕྲིན་ཁང་དུ་ཆིབས་སྒྱུར­་གནང་ཡོད་པ་རེད། ཀུན་གླེང་ལས་རིམ་གྱིས་དཔལ་༧རྒྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ­་མཆོག་ལ་བོད་ཀྱི་སྤྲུལ་སྐུའི་ཡང་སྲིད་ལ་རྒ­ྱ་ནག་གིས་ཐེ་གཏོགས་དང་ལྷག་པར་༧གོང་ས་མཆོག་­གི་ཡང་སྲིད་ཕེབས་ཕྱོགས་ལ་རྒྱ་ནག་གཞུང་གིས་­གཏམ་བཤད་པ་སོགས་དང་།
Originally published at – http://www.voatibetan.com/media/video/2741701.html

Today, in the morning of the 25th of April, in Nepal, the land where Lord Buddha was born, there occurred a devastating earthquake. Many thousands of people have been killed or injured, and historic buildings and private homes have been turned into ruins. As soon as I learned of this painful and distressing situation, I made my deepest aspiration prayers and dedications for all the people affected, and continue to do so. Especially at times when we are faced with such a desperate situation, we cannot sit idle, unfeelingly. We must join forces and carry the burden of sorrow together. It is important that each one of us light the lamp of courage. Additionally, it is important that each of the Karma Kagyu monasteries in Nepal, while looking after their own pressing needs for immediate protection, also extend any and all aid and protection they can to the public in their surrounding communities. From my own side, I will make every effort to come personally in the near future to offer my s…

(April 25, 2015 – Woodstock, New York) On the first rest day set aside for His Holiness the Karmapa, a devastating earthquake took the lives of thousands of people in Nepal, as well as in India, Tibet and Bangladesh. Within hours, His Holiness the Karmapa composed a letter of condolence (full text below) and immediately sent instructions to his administration in India directing them to offer material and funds for the relief effort. He later additionally led Mahakala practice at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, his North American seat. The full text of his statement is as follows: Today, on the morning of the 25th of April, in Nepal, the land where Lord Buddha was born, there occurred a devastating earthquake. Many thousands of people have been killed or injured, and historic buildings and private homes have been turned into ruins. As soon as I learned of this painful and distressing situation, I made my deepest aspiration prayers and dedications for all the people affected, and continue to …

Hey, he’s only 29, right? It’s got to be tough being the spiritual head of the 900-year-old Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He’s been that since he was he was recognized as the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa at the age of seven. He delivered his first public religious discourse to an audience of over 20,000 people at the age of eight. Then he had to escape from his home in Tibet when he was 14. This is his third trip to the U.S. He’s a passionate environmentalist, as befits any spiritual leader. The goal of his eco-monastic movement is to “safeguard the Earth so that all sentient beings can benefit and live in harmony with one another.” At the tree planting ceremony Wednesday, he sat with Woodstock officials and religious leaders. Even Father John, of the Church on the Mount, the fragile tiny chapel that is dwarfed by the Monastery’s (relatively) new building, was there. We like seeing the communities in harmony. The literature tells…

Two full houses at UPAC last week for a Bestowal of Refuge Vow and Teaching, followed by a public greeting at Andy Lee Field in Woodstock punctuated a week-long visit to town by His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. The Karmapa spent a week at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra (KTD) in Woodstock, his monastic seat in North America, as part of a two-month tour of American universities and Buddhists centers. Throughout town Tibetan prayer flags were fluttering and “Welcome Home” signs unfurled for the spiritual leader and in a private ceremony Wednesday morning the Karmapa, Abbot Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and Woodstock Town Supervisor Jeremy Wilber planted a tree on the KTD Monastery campus. Just 29-years old, the Karmapa was recognized in 1992 as the 17th incarnation of the Karmapa, making him head of the 900-year-old Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in 1985 to a nomadic family in eastern Tibet and discovered by a…

(April 24, 2015 – Wappingers Falls, New York) On a brisk afternoon, the road into the monastery was lined with the bright colors of tall banners in a formal procession to welcome His Holiness. This was his third visit to Kagyu Thubten Choling, founded in 1978 and set on a gentle cliff above the Hudson River. Following the lineage of Kalu Rinpoche, who emphasized the importance of three-year retreats, Lama Norlha Rinpoche has guided students through eight of them here in upstate New York. After a traditional welcoming ceremony of tea and rice during which he consecrated and offered lamps to several sacred images, His Holiness was invited into a spacious white tent where five hundred people waited to hear his talk and receive the transmission of the Medicine Buddha mantra. The Karmapa began by noting that during hisfirst visit there, in 2008, the weather had been cold and now it was also chilly―the blessing of the Kagyu lineage with i…